


Nice Shirt

by endemictoearth



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 19:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7119913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endemictoearth/pseuds/endemictoearth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn wears Rae's shirt to the pub, and their recent past is revealed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nice Shirt

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by another first line prompt, and got away from me a bit. I really was trying to dash these prompts off pretty quickly. But this kept going and growing, and I had to keep coming back to it.

"Is that my shirt?” Rae whispers under her breath while the rest of the gang are engrossed in another topic of conversation: Chop’s new-to-him car. They’re all planning day trips and figuring out which festivals they could get tickets to this summer, with Chop as their chauffeur.

Finn’s smiling at their excited chatter when Rae hisses her question in his ear.

He blinks, biting his lip. Because, it is.

He knew it was when he’d seen a bit of dark gray fabric poking up from the side of his bed. He pulled it out and put it on; it felt extra loose across the chest. He’d grinned standing in front of his wardrobe, thinking of her magnificent chest and how the fabric strained across it. And it smelled like her … that inimitable combination of her shampoo and whatever fabric softener her mum buys. But instead of being smart and changing into something else, he kept it on; so now he has to pretend he didn’t realize.

“Shit, is it?” He expels an annoyed sigh to keep up the pretense and whispers back. “I’m sorry. But you did leave it at ours, and I’ve got the same one. Don’t think anyone else’ll notice.”

She presses her lips together, worrying them to one side, but shrugs. “‘F’you say so. Just don’t forget to give it us back.”

He leans forward and puts his hands at the collar, like he’s about to strip off right there in the pub. Rae’s eyes widen and she hits him in the bicep with the back of her hand.

“What’s going on over there?” Chop asks, startling the pair. They both freeze and shake their heads simultaneously.

“Nothing!” they shout in unison, shaking their heads.

“We were just …” Finn falters, but Rae is quick to interject “… thinking of tunes to put on the inaugural mixtape for Chop’s car!”

Izzy and Archie cheer at that, and Chop shakes his head. “You all realize I’m gonna hafta pick up extra shifts to pay for it, right? We’ll be lucky to get out to Rutland Waters once or twice!”

Everyone huffs in annoyance at Chop’s uncharacteristic practicality, but Rae and Finn relax a bit now that the focus is off them.

Izzy asks, “Ooh, but if that’s all we get, can we go soon? Maybe this Sunday?” And, just like that, the gang are back in planning mode.

Finn inches a little closer to Rae, and whispers in her ear, “If you want your shirt back tonight, y’can always come round to mine after.”

Her lips quirk, so he knows she’s heard him, but she keeps her gaze focused on the group discussion.

* * * * *

Round about suppertime, everyone disperses pretty sharpish from the pub. Chop and Izzy speed away in his new car. Chloe drives herself home without offering anyone a lift; her parents want her home early these days. Archie heads home to study, and then it’s just Rae and Finn.

“Guess I’d better …” Rae hitches a thumb over her shoulder, then threads it under the strap of her backpack and starts to turn toward home.

“Wait!” Finn is startled at the volume of his own voice, and coughs, like his vocal chords played a trick on him and need to be reset. “Did—do you wanna come to mine? To, um, to get your shirt back?”

Rae pauses, and Finn takes the opportunity to study her profile as she considers his offer.

“Well … I mean, I don’t need it back right away, I guess.” She ducks her head and glances at him out of the corner of her eye.

“No, I s’pose not,” Finn mumbles. “’S’just …” He searches for a good reason she should come back with him. A reason that means he won’t have to admit that he doesn’t need a reason for her to be in his room. “If you don’t come now, when no one’s around … either you’ll hafta find another time to come over, or I’ll hafta smuggle it to you under the table at the pub …” He raises his eyebrows in significance.

She laughs softly at that. “Might be hard to explain, yeah.” She turns back to face him. “Well, if it’s okay, I guess I might as well come now.”

Finn feels a little thrill at her concession, but tries to keep his countenance calm and undisturbed. “Cool,” he said, leading the way.

* * * * *

They bump elbows all the way to his front door, neither saying much on the way. Finn can’t be sure what Rae’s thinking, but he’s been replaying the last time she’d been at his, when her shirt was left behind. The gang had all come over to watch a movie; Finn’s dad was on a work trip. He vetoed a sexy party, but said the gang could hang out.

When the movie was over, no one seemed to have a good idea of what they should do next. Chop and Izzy left soon after, presumably to go make out somewhere. Archie was always running off to the library these days, and Chloe was a dark horse. She seemed to want to stay, but Rae’s eyes had suddenly gotten wide and then Chloe was begging off, something to do at home. She paused at the door to ask Rae if she wanted a ride home, but Rae had shrugged and said she was fine to walk and that she’d probably head off in a minute.

But she hadn’t. He asked her if she wanted to listen to the new Ween album. (He’d gotten one of theirs on a whim when he picked up a Weezer cd and kind of liked it.) They ended up sitting on his bed; he mumbled something about not being able to hear it properly from the armchair and Rae played along. She was smart, must have seen it for the bullshit it was. But the two of them making out for the second half of the album wasn’t bullshit; that was brilliant.

Finn remembers taking off her Roses t-shirt, but she wouldn’t let him remove the long-sleeve top underneath. He remembers seeing the tee slip behind the bed from the corner of his eye, and he remembers not saying a word.

* * * * *

The house is dark when they get there.

“Your dad not in again?” Rae asks in a quiet voice.

“He’s been more out than in lately … big thing at work, I guess. Proposal or summat.” He shrugs and shoulders the door open in quick succession.

Finn switches on the overhead light in the entryway. They both flinch and squint at the harsh brightness.

“No wonder you don’t want to come home … I don’t like an empty house very much meself.” She smiles. “Well, I _didn’t_ … ”

Finn holds his breath and blinks. “I … did you wanna wait here? Or, you could come up and I’ll …” he makes a lame gesture with his hand, not sure how to finish that sentence.

Rae glances around the entryway. “Yeah, maybe I’ll come up a minute. Seems … weird to just stand in the hall.”

Finn waits until he’s turned away and his foot is on the first step to smile.

* * * * *

In his room, he snaps the bedside lamp on, and they stand there in the 60 watt dim. He realizes, probably at the exact same time Rae does, that he needs to give her back the shirt he’s currently _wearing_. He clears his throat, and Rae looks down at the carpet. Finn reaches for the collar and drags it swiftly over his head, suddenly regretting giving it back so soon.

He’s naked from the waist up, and feels so exposed. When she stayed to listen to records the other day, it was one of those cloudy, gloomy late afternoons that feels foggy and gray even inside. She didn’t let him take her long sleeve top off, but he remembers slipping his fingers under the hem and feeling the silky skin of her lower back, while the rough cotton of his henley rubbed and twisted against the finer fabric of her shirt.

He drops her shirt on his bed and grabs the flannel hung over the door of his wardrobe, pulling it on and quickly fastening the center buttons. “Sorry,” he mutters.

“No, that’s … okay.” Rae says, quiet.

She’s standing in the middle of his room, like she’s frozen. He can tell she’s uncomfortable; this was a bad idea. He remembers her springing up and away from him mid-kiss, apologizing as she fumbled into her leather jacket. “I’ve gotta get home and help me mum with supper … totally forgot … she’s gonna kill me …”

He stared after her, dumbfounded, sure he’d done something wrong. That’s how he feels now, so he picks up the shirt from the bed, folds it in quarters and holds it out to her. “Here, sorry.”

Rae reaches out for it; her fingers brush again his, and he shivers.

She sighs. “Thanks. I should probably … go.”

Finn sinks onto the bed and nods at the floor. “If you want, sure.”

She pauses near the door. “I thought you’d want me to … I mean, after all, it was just a …”

Finn looks up at her and swears he can see a tear in the corner of her eye. He pushes off the bed and crosses over to stand in front of her. She bites her lip, looks up and away first, then meets his gaze. She holds her breath; Finn does the same as he dives forward to kiss her.

With Rae in her Chucks and Finn in his boots, they’re pretty much the same height, he doesn’t have far to go, but it feels further. She instinctively leans away in surprise, but when Finn wraps an arm around her waist to pull her closer, she doesn’t squirm away. After her initial recoil, he feels her relax into the kiss, tilting her chin up as he pulls her lower lip in between his teeth. He just begins to snake his other arm around her to hold her closer when she works her hand up to press against his chest, applying pressure enough for him to pull his head back and investigate.

Her pupils are dilated, making her amber eyes seem darker; her face is flushed, but she seems out of sorts. She definitely not happy, which makes Finn unhappy, too.

“What’s the matter?” he asks, between shallow breaths.

Rae draws a corner of her slightly swollen lower lip between her teeth. “What’s the—what is this? Is this because your dad’s out?” Rae is looking at him with a confused expression.

“Huh? Is what—what? I don’t—“

“I mean, if you’re bored or lonely or whatever, I’m sure there are other girls who could … entertain you.” She moves her head back, and there’s a bit of space between them, but he’s still got hold of her waist with his arm.

“What???” Finn has no idea what to make of this. He loosens his grip a bit, but doesn’t let go.

“I—you—” Rae flounders.

“Is that what you think this is? Me being _bored_?”

“Well, you didn’t call, or say anything the next time we saw each other. I just figured it was a distraction, something to pass the time, or …” Her voice trails off, the sound of indignation fading by the second.

“But, I tried to hold your hand at the pub, and you wouldn’t let me, and I figured YOU didn’t want anyone to know about it. That it was just a one-time thing.”

“You what? When?”

“I sat next to you at the pub, and …” Finn slides his fingers from her elbow down the outside of her forearm to link hands. It’s an awkward thing in their current configuration, but Rae seems to realize. “I didn’t know what to make of that … you were tapping your fingers and it seemed like there was a pattern. Thought maybe you were trying to say something in, like, Morse code.” She laughs, nerves jangling at the back of it.

Finn holds her a bit tighter, and the hand she’s been pressing against him to keep him at bay curls into a fist, gathering the fabric of his flannel as she does. He locks his eyes with hers, and says her name in a low and urgent voice: “Rae.”

She blinks and her eyes go blank for a second before refocusing. “Yeah?” she whispers back, voice still shaky.

“I am the opposite of bored right now.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m …   _never_ bored when you’re around.” He took a deep breath. “And I _was_ trying to tell you something, but I don’t know Morse code.”

Rae holds her breath for a second, then says, once again, “Yeah?”

He gently pulls her hand up between them and shifts back enough to hold it horizontal between them. He lets go of her waist and she dips, just a bit, like a mini-swoon. But she straightens up so quickly, he isn’t worried. He runs his palm over hers, like he’s clearing it off, and proceeds with only a tiny hesitation to write a message.

Her eyes grow even bigger, and a small smile creeps onto her lips. “Yeah?”

He nods, “Yeah. You and your shirt.”

Her eyebrow quirks in silent inquiry.

“Well, I were hoping I could maybe hang on to it, after all.”

Rae shakes her head, her smile growing. “I dunno. It’s one of my favorites.”

“You could have mine. Like a trade.” He’s clasping her hand between both of his, and when her head drops down, he dips his along with it, to keep an eye on her expression.

“It’ll be too small,” she whispers. Her eyes squeeze shut, and he can hear the sadness in her voice.

“It’s the same size,” Finn whispers back. “I checked.”

“You …?” Rae looks up, more confusion clouding her eyes.

Finn drops his head. “I knew it were yours, Rae. That’s why I wore it.”

Rae twists her hand out of his double grasp, and Finn both slumps his shoulders and braces for her response. She lays both of her hands flat on his chest and gently pushes him backwards until the edge of his bed bumps against the back of his knees. Then her hands snake up and curl over his shoulders, pressing down for him to sit.

She sits next to him, and twists to face him. He pulls a leg under him to face her.

“Okay,” she whispers.

“Okay?”

“Give me your shirt and we’ll call it even.”

“Oh,” Finn has inched forward, and now falls back a bit. “Sure.” He starts to push himself to stand and Rae puts her hand out to stop him.

“Not now, silly. It can wait till later. Till … after.”

Finn’s breath hitches. “After?”

Rae rolls her eyes. “Not after … _that_. At least, not yet. After this.” She leans forward to press her lips to his, and keeps gently pushing him down until he’s breathless and dizzy and lying back on his bed. She sprawls across half of his chest, keeping herself grounded on the bed, and he thinks he knows why. He clutches at her arm, pulling her properly up on top of him. He wants to feel her, as much of her as he can. She’s probably worried she’s too heavy, but he just wonders at how real she feels. She’s so warm and soft and he just wants wants wants.

Once he has her fully on top of him, her knees on either side of his waist, she keeps making cute little noises of protest at the back of her throat between kisses. “No, I … why don’t I … lay on the bed … and … you can … ” she says, haltingly, between yet more kisses.

“Because … I want … you right … here.” He holds his palm on her chest, reluctantly stopping her kisses for a moment. He looks up at her flushed face, eyes still closed, her lips swollen and pursed and paused, ready to devour his again. “Rae, I’m not hurt and I’m _not_ bored. It’s fair to say that I know a little better than you do how I feel about you and, like, about this, yeah?”

She blinks her eyes open and pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. “Yeah, maybe.”

He nods, mouth curling up into a smile. “Okay, then.”

He slides his hands up Rae’s thighs and around her hips, using them to pull himself up to meet her mouth. He’s still smiling when his lips reach hers.

* * * * *

_Three days later …_

Rae’s leg jiggles against his in the booth at the pub. “Why’re you nervous?” he whispers, slipping his palm around hers and pulling their joined hands onto his thigh.

Rae shakes her head, but doesn’t stop her leg. “I’m not,” she lies.

They hadn’t really said anything to the gang. Finn’s not trying to hide it, but it feels a little special having this thing all to themselves. But today, he came over to hers early, and was greeted by the sight of her wearing his Roses tee, while he was wearing hers. They both laughed, and Rae said, “I’ll go and change me top.”

Finn caught her hand. “No, don’t.”

“But …”

He shook his head, and she shrugged.

Which brings them to the pub, waiting for their friends to show up.

Chop and Izzy, engaged in a cheerful argument, don’t even notice how close Rae and Finn are sitting; they just carry on bickering. Rae gives Finn a wide-eyed stare and he shrugs, taking a sip of his pint.

Archie slides in on the end, plopping his hefty history text on the table. His eyes dart between their chests and then he gives each of them with a pointed look, but doesn’t say a word.

When Chloe arrive a few minutes’ later, her eyes meet Archie’s and a wordless conversation takes place. She settles into her seat and leans over her arms in the direction of Rae and Finn. “Nice shirt,” she says with a smirk.

Without looking at each other, Finn and Rae both say, “Thanks,” at the exact same time.


End file.
